Hill champions life over freedom
Syranno Baines/Gleaner Writer
FLAYING THE parliamentary Opposition for erring gravely in withdrawing its support for three states of public emergency (SOEs) credited for falling crime, government senator Aubyn Hill asserted that life must take precedence over the temporary loss of freedom.
Speaking yesterday during his State of the Nation Debate in the Senate,
“In my calculus, Mr President, the inalienable right to life and the absolute and unquestionably intrinsic value of life itself far outweigh the temporary loss of freedom – as incredibly valuable as that freedom is to us,” Hill declared during his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Upper House yesterday.
The Opposition last year voted against a further extension of emergency measures, arguing that regular, high-density policing was the main reason behind the retreat of criminals from Jamaica’s streets.
But Hill took particular issue with that position.
“So it appears that the PNP (People’s National Party) and Peter Phillips took out their scales of justice, put temporary loss of freedom for some on one side, and on the other, they put murdered victims and the criminal loss of lives of law-abiding citizens, and the temporary loss of freedom clearly outweighed the murderous loss of lives of law-abiding Jamaican citizens. So they voted to block the progress of the states of emergency.”
He added: “Life comes before freedom. Indeed, those persons who have lost their lives to criminal murderers will never again enjoy freedom on this Earth. Nearly all those who have been detained have regained their freedom, and all detainees are still alive. Life is pre-eminently valuable,” he contended.
Hill, in trumpeting the success of the Government in reducing serious crimes, argued that the states of emergency, along with the zones of special operations, had reduced murders by 70 per cent in St James, 44.4 per cent in central Kingston, 26.8 per cent in St Catherine North, and accounted for an islandwide decline of 21.7 per cent.